


The Self-Proclaimed Wingman

by waywardfacegarden



Category: Ookiku Furikabutte | Big Windup!
Genre: -ish?, Boys Being Boys, Canon Compliant, Canon Universe, Chaotic Good, Chaotic kids, Dorks in Love, Fluff, Gen, Give Izumi a Break, I Tried, Mutual Pining, Oofuri Secret Santa, Oofuri Secret Santa 2020, Pre-Relationship, Tajima being Tajima, Tired Izumi, Yeah by that I mean mainly Tajima, everyone is trying their best
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-10 20:01:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 9,956
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28442829
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/waywardfacegarden/pseuds/waywardfacegarden
Summary: Abe is worrying, Mihashi is Mihashi, and they're both embarrassingly pining.ft. Lots and lots of Tajima (meddling) and Izumi being Done.
Relationships: Abe Takaya & Mihashi Ren, Abe Takaya/Mihashi Ren, Izumi Kousuke & Tajima Yuuichirou, Mihashi Ren & Tajima Yuuichirou, implicit at least haha
Comments: 18
Kudos: 47





	The Self-Proclaimed Wingman

**Author's Note:**

> hello!!! this is my oofuri secret santa for @jjbranen-art on tumblr!!!! you wanted some abemiha or the team hanging out together outside of practice and, well, i hope i delivered!!! writing this made me realize i don't know how to write kids hanging out, ahaha, but i had so much fun writing it!! it's all over the place, but i really, really hope you enjoy it!!!! happy holidays and happy new year!!!!! my best, best wishes for you!! hope 2021 brings you lots of love and all the good things!
> 
> as a side note, the amount of tajima in this fic is unbelievable LOL, and frankly unexpected, but the boy was screaming in my head all the time to be written so here we are ig, haha. i _tried_ following the canon manga timeline, but given i'm awful at it and i read it long ago, i hope it's... not that confusing... also, this is my first time writing for this fandom so i'm sorry for any oocness here, i tried my best!!
> 
> i deeply apologize for any grammar mistake on here!! i checked and edited this a lot, but english is not my first language so this probably has a few mistakes here and there. i hope it's not too glaring or something.
> 
> anyways, without anything more to add, i hope you like this!!!

**1.**

"Mi-ha-shi!” Tajima sings-songs, jumping behind him and clapping on Mihashi’s shoulders in the dressing room.

Mihashi is dozing off, clean shirt on and messy hair, and he kind of jumps, startled.

“Tajima-kun?”

He throws an arm over the boy’s shoulders.

“Hey!” He squeezes Mihashi’s arm and grins up at him. “Remember that movie I talked to you about? The one with the cute actress?”

Mihashi frowns slightly, like he’s thinking which one does Tajima refer to, and then nods.

“Cool! Do you wanna go to see it this weekend?”

Mihashi nods again. “I’ll… tell my mom.”

“Awesome!” Tajima grins and does a fist pump with his free hand in the air.

“Ohhh,” Sakaeguchi goes, finishing buttoning up his uniform shirt in front of them. “Are you talking about the one with Hirose Suzu on it? She’s really pretty…”

“Yeah, she looks cute with short hair.” Tajima agrees. “You wanna come too? Izumi is coming as well.”

“Sure, sounds fun.” He accepts, looking excited.

“Awesome!” He doubles his neck back and looks upside down at Izumi, where he’s sitting at a bench behind them, looking at something on his phone. “Hey. Think Hama wants to join too?”

Izumi looks up and shakes his head. “He works that day.”

“Oh, well. Next time it is.”

“I’ll tell him, though.”

“Cool, yeah.”

Sakaeguchi hangs his backpack across his chest and waves at them. “I’ll see you later, then.” He smiles. “I’m going now.”

“Sure, I’ll send you the hour and everything later!”

“Yes, thank you!”

“Have a safe trip!” Tajima waves goodbye. He stretches up both of his arms and grins enthusiastically at both Izumi and Mihashi.

“You know, you know, Granpa is giving me some money because I got better grades this time so we’re eating a lot!”

Mihashi perks up, looking even more excited at the mention of food. “Popcorn!”

Tajima’s grin grows impossibly wider. “Yeah! Aahh, I love the little chocolates they sell in the candy stall there, too, we should get some.” He says, with a dreamy look and saliva already threatening to fall out of his mouth.

“They’re hella expensive, though,” Izumi comments.

Tajima doesn’t look defeated. “We’ll get some anyway! What is life without food, right, Mihashi?”

He looks back at the boy, who’s looking at somewhere next to them, where Abe is changing in the back of the room, just a few lockers away.

Tajima blinks.

Then…

“ _Oh_.” He smirks and leans on Mihashi’s side, throwing an arm over his shoulders again. “You want Abe to come, too, huh?”

Mihashi blinks rapidly in the direction of his friend, probably surprised that he was caught staring. He blushes. “Ah! I—” He looks down, embarrassed.

Tajima pats Mihashi’s shoulder. “No problem! I got you.” He grins. Then, he waves on the other’s direction, “Hey, Abe!”

Mihashi jumps, alarmed, and starts blinking and looking everywhere that’s not their teammate, probably not expecting his friend to actually call him out and invite him.

Abe looks up and back over his shoulder at Tajima. He’s showing his back at them, his dirty undershirt still hanging on his forearms from where he just pulled it up over his head, his hair a bit messy. (Mihashi was true, he sure is getting big…)

He raises an eyebrow. “Hm?”

“Are you free this weekend?” Tajima asks. “Wanna hang out at the movies?”

Abe blinks, like he’s confused. “Eh?”

“Hang out,” Tajima repeats. “You know, like going out with your friends.”

Abe blinks again. He must not get asked often, huh…

“I know,” He answers, and takes off his shirt completely before turning around. “I just…”

“ _Come oooon_ , it will be fun!” Tajima cuts him off, beaming. “Right, Mihashi?”

Mihashi kind of jumps again, blushing, and then he shyly nods, rapidly. “I think it… will be fun.” He says quietly, looking at Abe briefly and then looking away a few times, blushing harder. “I think… Abe-kun should… come, too.”

Abe blinks, looking surprised. He honestly seems moved, too, like he wasn’t expecting Mihashi to speak up to invite him as well.

“Izumi and Sakaeguchi are coming, too.” Tajima adds, bouncing on the balls of his feet.

Abe nods, finally. “Okay. I’ll be there.”

Tajima grins. “Cool! Then I’ll text you the time we’ll meet there later.”

“Mhm, thank you.”

“Of course!” Tajima makes a thumbs up. “We’ll be happy to have you there!”

Mihashi bashfully nods next to him and, when Abe notices, his mouth wobbles a bit. Then, he turns around to change up, and Tajima swears he can see the tips of his ears getting red.

.

.

“Is that the place you talked about the other day?” Izumi asks while they’re waiting for the others to show up, pointing at the coffee shop located at the center of the second floor of the mall. “The one with the sandwiches you like?”

Tajima leans over the railing to look down at the second floor.

“Ah, yes!” He points at it. “That’s the one!”

He looks over his shoulder at them, and Mihashi perks up, interested.

“We _need_ to go there, too. You both will love it.”

Izumi arches an eyebrow. “You’ll end up spending all your savings and the money your grandpa gave you on food?” Then, he shakes his head. “Forget I asked, I already know the answer.”

Tajima smiles, leaning back on the railing. “It’s not a waste if it’s on food.”

“You have a point there, I guess…” Izumi concedes.

“Oh!” Tajima exclaims, like he just remembered something. “Mihashi, wanna get some smoothies, too?”

Mihashi nods eagerly, just at the same time someone goes: “Hello!”

They all turn at the voice in time to look at Sakaeguchi waving at them. Abe is walking at his side, and he does a small wave when they both get closer.

“Yo.” Izumi greets them.

“Hey!” Sakaeguchi smiles, looking a bit apologetic. “Sorry, did you wait a lot?”

“Nah.” Tajima reassures, crossing his arms behind his head. “It’s fine. We just got here.”

“Ah, that’s good! Abe and I just crossed paths before getting here.”

“Cool.” Tajima turns around and looks at the cinema. “Ah, man, there’s a lot of people in line.”

“We can buy the food first, maybe?” Sakaeguchi offers.

“Oh, yes, good idea!”

“I’ll go to the bathroom first and then to the candy stall.” Sakaeguchi says. “Do you want something?”

“Oh, oh, oh!” Tajima nods, counting some money and putting it in the boy’s hand. “I want _Skittles_!”

“Okay, see you in a bit then.”

“Yup!”

.

After they finally decide on a combo with two hot-dogs (that Tajima and Mihashi manage to eat up completely somehow in the couple of minutes they’re waiting for Sakaeguchi to meet up with them), three sets of boxes of popcorns and some sodas, they’re trying to decide what schedule for the movie should they pick. Izumi is saying that they should buy the next one, starting in a couple of minutes, but Tajima is arguing that he wants to play a bit in the game area before watching the movie.

It’s then when Abe looks at Mihashi, frowning.

“Do I look weird or something?” He asks.

Mihashi blinks in answer. Then, he tilts his head in confusion and shakes his head ‘no’.

“Ah, sorry,” Abe apologizes, “it’s just… you’ve been staring a lot, so I wondered.” He explains.

Mihashi’s eyes go big, as if just realizing he has been, in fact, staring at Abe a quite lot since he got there. He probably was doing it unconsciously, Tajima thinks, judging by his reaction. He didn’t think Abe would notice either, even with how obvious Mihashi was, but given how much attention he pays to Mihashi, Tajima should have known better.

“So I don’t…”

Mihashi shakes his head, then, so furiously Tajima worries it will fall out of his neck.

“No!”

Abe blinks, seemingly taken aback at how loud Mihashi was.

“Ah!” Mihashi goes, and then opens his mouth and closes it, again and again, three times. “I…! It’s! _You_ don’t… You don’t look… bad.”

Abe stares.

Sakaeguchi seems ready to intervene and take up for Mihashi in the conversation, but Tajima steps back and pulls at him. When Sakaeguchi turns to shoot a questioning look at him, Tajima mouths, pointing at Ren with his chin, _“let him, he’s trying.”_

Sakaeguchi blinks, and then realizes what Tajima is talking about and nods, stepping back with him.

“Um.” Mihashi tries again, looking down and then up, blinking one, two, three times; his cheeks start dusting red at the same time he opens his mouth. “You…! You, uh,” he avoids eye contact once again before looking at Abe’s face one more time; and his eyes sparkle with determination even when his face just gets a darker shade of red, “You look good, Abe-kun!” He finally blurts out all in a row.

Abe blinks, taken aback again.

“Ah.” He seems like someone just hit him square in the back of his head with a baseball, and so freaking lost. He blinks again. “Eh?”

Mihashi nods, maybe a little bit too eager. “That—that color…!” He points to Abe’s shirt and kind of smiles. “It… suits you.”

Abe’s eyes go big. He stares at Mihashi for a bit before looking away, blushing.

He coughs. “Uh. Yeah, I.” He closes his eyes and then looks at Mihashi briefly. “We… we should go buy the tickets now, there’s not so many people now.”

Mihashi nods again, smiling softly. “Yes.”

Abe’s mouth does something wobbly, and then he frowns. He doesn’t look annoyed or angry in the slightest, though.

He pats Mihashi’s shoulder, which seems to be his way of saying _thank you_ to Mihashi’s compliment.

Ren blinks and then does an expression that looks between elated and really, really, really happy. He wobbles a bit, and Tajima swears he can see him float a bit when they start walking towards the casher.

“Oh my god.” Izumi sighs like he’s in real pain, making a face, looking equally exhausted and overly done with that single interaction he had to witness.

Sakaeguchi laughs next to him, lightheartedly. “I think they’re cute, though.”

Tajima nods enthusiastically, biting on a mouthful of popcorn. “They’re definitely getting there.” _Bite, bite, bite._ “At least Abe heard Mihashi’s compliment this time.” He says, looking proud. Then, he starts laughing. “And Abe’s reactions are always hilarious.”

He makes a face, like trying to imitate (in an overly exaggerated way) Abe’s dumbfounded, embarrassed expression, and both Sakaeguchi and Izumi start laughing. That is, until Izumi notices Tajima has eaten at least half of their boxes of popcorn.

“Tajima!” He exclaims, a vein popping up in his forehead, “Let some for others too, you idiot!”

Sakaeguchi just laughs when Izumi starts chasing after Tajima, who continues eating and laughing, running around him.

“We can buy more, man!” He keeps saying.

“Still!”

“Ah, wait,” Sakaeguchi speaks up, intrigued, “we’re letting Mihashi and Abe to sit together at the cinema, right?”

“Obviously!” Tajima grins, and Izumi nods earnestly.

“Okay, okay.” He laughs.

.

.

**2.**

Izumi hands him his _Garigari-kun_ strawberry popsicle before sitting down next to him, there in the sidewalk of the small parking lot out of a convenience store.

Mihashi sighs contently while eating his, sitting at the other side of Tajima.

“ _Man_ , it’s _so_ hot today,” he whistles, and Izumi agrees silently next to him. “These things are amazing in summer.”

“Mhmm.”

They sit there, talking about food and baseball and a series Tajima is watching on weekends, relaxing after a long day of classes and late practice, the sound of steps on the asphalt and the convenience store’s door opening and closing behind them as background noise.

“Ah, that reminds me,” Tajima says then, “I forgot to brought you the porn magazine I talked to you about the other day, Izumi.”

Mihashi ‘ _eeks’_ loudly while Izumi elbows him, hard, looking equally embarrassed and exasperated.

“Ouch, dude, that hurt!” Tajima whines, pouting while rubbing at his side. “I told you it’s not that easy to get them out now that my bro is always home!”

Izumi frowns and hastily shushes him. _“Don’t talk about that here, Tajima!”_ He hisses, shooting a very judgmental look at his friend, and looking ready to strangle him at any moment if he doesn’t _shut up_. “You sure don’t have manners, _baka_.”

Tajima pouts. “Who doesn’t have manners?”

“ _You_ , idiot.” He answers, flicking Tajima’s forehead.

Tajima rubs at the spot that’s been hit with his hand and sticks out his tongue. “ _You_ were the one who rudely attacked me right now.”

Izumi rolls his eyes.

Tajima laughs, “It’s true!”

“Drama queen.” Izumi deadpans.

Tajima laughs harder and Izumi just rolls his eyes in response.

Tajima does shut up, though, so they continue to peacefully eat after that.

That is, of course, until Tajima speaks up again.

“Oh, yeah,” he says as an afterthought. “Have you ever thought about Abe in a nurse uniform, Mihashi? Like, when you jerk off—”

Izumi chokes on his popsicle, and Mihashi just lets his one fall on the ground at the same time he goes loudly something like _“EEEEK!”,_ looking extremely mortified. He frantically waves his hands in front of him, looking at Tajima and stuttering something so fast that it’s practically incoherent (the only barely recognizable thing being _“T-t-t-t-t-tajima-kun!”_ ). His entire face gets an unhealthy shade of red.

“Ohhh.” Tajima exclaims, while Izumi coughs. “That’s a yes, then.”

Mihashi makes a mortified noise again and buries his face in his hands, looking incredibly embarrassed.

“Why did you ask that?!” Izumi asks, high-pitched voice and blushing as well, looking equally horrified and embarrassed.

“I was just wondering!” Tajima explains, confused as to why it was such a big deal. “He said he liked the one in the nurse cosplay the other time!”

Mihashi makes another mortified noise and sways in his seat. Izumi shoots him a worried look and then hits Tajima square in the back of his head with his open palm. It doesn’t really hurt, but Tajima frowns anyway.

“Hey!”

“He looks like he’s about to pass out of embarrassment, you idiot!”

“Ah.” Tajima tries to shake Mihashi into real life again. “Sorry, sorry! It’s totally fine! It’s totally normal, we aren’t judging you!”

Mihashi babbles something before hiding his face in his hands again.

“Really! It’s totally fine!” He reassures him, and then looks back at Izumi. “Right?”

Izumi coughs, embarrassed, but nods. “Yeah, Mihashi.”

“Besides, Izumi’s fantasies are way funnier.” Tajima laughs.

Izumi’s eye twitches and a vein pops in his forehead. “ _Tajima._ ”

“What?” Tajima blinks at him, extremely relaxed even when Izumi looks like he’s about to commit murder. “I’m not judging either, dude, I’m just saying some of them are funny. Like the one where you—”

“That’s it.” Izumi says, and it’s the last warning he gives before closing his arms around Tajima’s neck.

It _does_ serve to distract Mihashi from his embarrassment when he’s trying to calm Izumi down from killing their friend, though.

.

.

**3.**

“Ren.”

Tajima looks at where Mihashi (expectedly) jolts awake in his seat like he’s just been electrified with a lighting; same reaction he has been having every single time ever since Abe started calling him by his name a week ago.

Abe goes in their classroom like he has been doing every lunch break these past days, without sparing a look at the other people around him. Hamada keeps saying how it’s incredible Abe doesn’t seem uncomfortable at all at coming in a classroom that isn’t his, acting like it’s nothing.

“Ren,” he repeats, mercilessly, and Mihashi kind of jumps again, the tip of his ears getting red.

He lets out a tiny, low, “yes?”

Abe puts down a black umbrella in Mihashi’s desk in response.

“You should take my umbrella with you today.”

Mihashi looks at the object and then at Abe.

“Um.” He seems confused. “B-but why?”

Abe frowns. “What do you mean ‘why’?” he asks. “You forgot yours today, didn’t you? I didn’t see you carrying one when we talked this morning. And it’s going to rain.”

Mihashi blinks rapidly. “Ah! Yes, I forgot… But…”

Hamada points at the window of their classroom, where the sky is getting a dark gray, clouds gathering around like pecks of white in the vast silver. “He’s right, it looks like is about to rain.”

Abe looks pointedly at Mihashi. “See? Then use it. Your home is not that close, you’ll get sick if you get back under the rain like this.”

“B-but…!” Mihashi frowns. “Abe-kun, he—! If I—If I use Abe-kun’s umbrella, then…”

“I told you, it’s _Takaya_. Not Abe. _Takaya_.” He says, pointing it out for (probably) what seems to be the sixth time in the same week.

Mihashi opens and closes his mouth, but nothing comes out. Abe seems to know it means he’s not getting what he wants that day, so he sighs and continues with the conversation from before.

“It’s fine, it’s important that you take care of yourself, so just take it with you.” He points to his umbrella, still on Mihashi’s desk. “You can give it back tomorrow.”

“But…” Mihashi frowns again. “A-Abe-kun can get sick if I…” He looks up at Abe, eyes sparkling with something akin to worry. “You promised…” He closes his eyes and his hands, seeming frustrated. Then, he breathes in and opens his eyes again, looking at Abe with the kind of eyes he gets—not that rarely these days—when he’s in a match, there in the mound, and he’s determined to _win_. “You should…!” He starts again, louder than he probably wants, but doesn’t seem to notice, and grabs Abe’s hand with his. “T-take care of yourself, too, Aah-be-kun!”

Abe blinks.

There’s a beat of silence in the room, a few of their classmates turning around to look at them, looking surprised at Mihashi’s outburst.

“Why don’t you share?” Tajima intervenes then, looking at them from his seat.

Izumi eyes him, standing up with his arms crossed over his chest next to him, leaning back on Tajima’s desk.

Abe looks lost. “Uh?”

“Yeah, why don’t you just share it?” Tajima looks at him. “Aren’t you coming to Ren’s house to study later? You can go together with him after the classes are over. It doesn’t seem like we can practice in my house before anyway.”

Giving they’re in midterms, the four of them have been coming to practice at Tajima’s house after classes, and then Abe and Tajima go back to Mihashi’s house to study in the evening after eating something. Sometimes Sakaeguchi, Mizutani, Suyama or Oki join in their practice or study group.

But they can skip a day of practice if it’ll be raining. It probably would be way too bothersome, with Abe worrying too much about the possibility of Mihashi getting injured.

Abe frowns. “I…”

Tajima shoots him a serious look. “Ren is right anyway. You should take care of yourself. The Tournament’s City matches are pretty close; it’ll be stupid if you don’t play because you get the flu or something.” He smirks, cheeky, and arches both eyebrows. “Unless you want me to be the catcher this time?”

Abe looks at him, silently.

“I don’t mind.” Mihashi speaks up, then—quietly this time. Both Tajima and Abe look at him. Mihashi looks down at Abe’s umbrella. “Sharing…”

Abe presses his lips together, and then nods after a moment.

“Okay.” He agrees.

Mihashi looks up at him, looking nicely surprised. “R-really?”

“Mhm.” Abe confirms. “See you at noon, then.”

Ren nods, looking excited. “Yes!”

Tajima laughs when Abe gets out of the classroom and Izumi shakes his head at him.

.

Izumi shoots him a look. They’re walking behind Mihashi and Abe in the sidewalk to Mihashi’s house. Abe is holding the umbrella up between them, their sides pressed together so they won’t get wet, and Tajima smiles when he sees the (not so) subtle way he leans it so it covers all of Mihashi’s body.

“Are you trying to set them up again?” He asks after they’ve walked a few blocks.

Tajima grins.

Izumi sighs.

“Do you think it’s a good idea after last time?” He grimaces, looking at Mihashi’s back. “Mihashi’s face was so red I thought he was going to pass out.”

Tajima waves a hand in the air.

“ _Whaaaat?_ If Hanai hadn’t interrupted them, it would have totally worked out!” He affirms, and Izumi raises a judgmental eyebrow at him. “ _Besides_ —” He grins, wide and happy, and points at them with his chin. “They seem fine.”

They’re not that behind, so they can hear a bit of what they’re talking about. Abe makes a comment about Mihashi’s pitches after Mihashi finishes mentioning what they can eat in his house once they get there, and Mihashi asks something about their new training; they easily fall into a conversation after. It’s incredible how easier it seems for them to talk lately. Not _always_ , but a lot more than before.

“See?” Tajima bounces in the ball of his feet. “They look fine to me.”

“Hmm.” Izumi looks at them, thoughtful. “You’re right, they get along better now.”

“Mhmm.”

“Abe is still kind of annoying, though. His attitude pisses me off sometimes, he’s so bossy.”

Tajima laughs. “He just worries too much. But I know what you mean.” He jumps to skip a puddle of water and then comments. “Ren doesn’t seem to mind, though. He likes Takaya _because_ it’s him. _Because_ he worries; he knows he genuinely cares.”

Izumi nods, silently, frowning.

“Love is gross.” He says, eventually, after a beat of silence.

Tajima grins wickedly, like he’s about to say something that’s going to piss him off.

“ _Tajima_.” He warns.

Tajima laughs again.

.

**4.**

**[10:36pm] Yuu-kun:** ren

 **[10:36pm]:** did you get back already? :))

 **[10:36pm] Yuu-kun:** yup! just got dinner!

 **[10:37pm]:** great!! i got dinner too!!!! :D

 **[10:37pm] Yuu-kun:** awesome! what did u have?

 **[10:37pm]:** mom made curry!!!!

 **[10:37pm] Yuu-kun:** ahhhh thats so cool! ur moms curry is delicious

 **[10:38pm]:** yes!! and mom told me she would do hamburger meat for tomorrow’s bento!!! want me to brought some for you? 

**[10:38pm] Yuu-kun:** ooooohh :0

 **[10:38pm] Yuu-kun:** that would be awesome, ren!!!!!! thank u!!!!!!!! <3 :D

 **[10:38pm]:** i wonder if abe would want some…

 **[10:39pm] Yuu-kun:** ofc! u can try to brought some for him too. ill go with u to his classroom in lunch break, itll be fun!!!!!!

 **[10:39pm] Yuu-kun:** we can visit hanai and mizutani too :D

 **[10:39pm] Yuu-kun:** havent been in their classroom b4. Its always taka who is coming to ours

 **[10:39pm]:** yes…

 **[10:39pm]:** I’ll brought some for him, then!

 **[10:40pm] Yuu-kun:** :D

 **[10:40pm] Yuu-kun:** yk

 **[10:40pm] Yuu-kun:** talking about taka

 **[10:40pm] Yuu-kun:** i never thought he would look cute in his life but ig i was wrong

 **[10:40pm]:** abe is cute…

 **[10:40pm] Yuu-kun:** yeah, agree

 **[10:41pm] Yuu-kun:** like, look at this

 **[10:41pm] Yuu-kun:** [photo of Mihashi and Abe cuddling in Mihashi’s sofa, asleep between studying]

To be fair, they’ve already fallen asleep many times after studying around an hour, but this was the first time Mihashi and Abe actually _cuddled_ in their sleep, so he _had_ to take a photo. Tajima and Izumi fell asleep before them, while Abe tried to explain Mihashi some math’s theme, both of them sitting in Mihashi’s sofa.

Later, when Tajima woke up and got up to go to Mihashi’s bathroom, he saw them there, lying together in the sofa. They probably fell asleep at the same time, or moved around while they were sleeping. Any way that it happened, they ended up in that position: Abe with his back on the couch and Mihashi spread over him, his head just under the crook of Abe’s neck, face plastered on Taka’s chest. Abe’s right arm was falling off the sofa, but his left was hugging Mihashi’s around his waist, while Mihashi crumpled Takaya’s t-shirt in one of his hands, the other one resting on Abe’s stomach.

He _had_ to take a photo.

 **[10:41pm] Yuu-kun:** he sure looks cute hugging you there. like an angel

 **[10:42pm]:** !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **[10:42pm]:** yuu-kun!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 **[10:42pm] Yuu-kun:** hahahah, dw, dont freak out, i just took it so youll have it

 **[10:42pm]:** oh… thank you…

 **[10:42pm] Yuu-kun:** yeah yr welcome

 **[10:43pm] Yuu-kun:** are u going to put it as ur lockscreen? **[10:43pm - read]**

Tajima can easily picture Mihashi’s blushing face and squeak of panic—maybe he threw his phone as well in the middle of _actually_ putting the picture as his lockscreen. He laughs.

 **[10:44pm] Yuu-kun:** its fine, its fine!!!! ill stop teasing u now!!!!!!

 **[10:44pm] Yuu-kun:** gn. :D dream with taka, ren-ren ;)

 **[10:45pm]:** yuu-kun!!!!!!!!

.

It’s not the only time they fall asleep together in their study sessions. Tajima starts suspecting they do it on purpose when he catches them the sixth time.

(Tajima has evidence of all of them.)

.

.

**5.**

“Yuu-kun.” Mihashi says, standing up, “I’ll go for more rice, y-you want some?”

Tajima shakes his head, his cheeks stuffed. “I’m fine! Can you get me one meat bun, though?”

Mihashi nods. Then, he looks at the boy sitting next to Tajima. “Abe…?”

Abe frowns. “No, I’m fine.”

Mihashi blinks, and then nods again and turns around.

“You know,” Tajima says after some moments of silence, without looking up from his bowl of rice, “if you scowl like that he’ll think you’re angry at him.”

Abe looks at him. “I’m not _angry_ at him. I’m just…” He stops, his frown deepening.

Tajima side-eyes him and then laughs. “That’s what I’m talking about, you look really angry right now.”

“I’m not angry!”

Tajima stuffs his mouth with a bunch of meat again. “I know.” he says, mouth still full.

Abe looks at him, surprised, like he didn’t expect Tajima to actually get it.

“He’ll get there.” Tajima continues, shrugging. “Just give him time. He’s not used to call you that.”

Abe blinks, his neck blushing a bit.

Tajima chuckles.

“Am I that easy to read?”

“Hmm,” Tajima muses, “not as easy as Ren, I guess, but a lot of the time? Yes. You also frown every time he calls me Yuu and every time he calls you Abe so I figured.”

He hides his face behind his hand and sighs.

“I don’t know why, but it frustrates me.”

Tajima bumps his shoulder with his, still eating. “Like I said, just give him time.”

“But—”

“You have to be patient with him,” Tajima indicates, “he got used to you calling him Ren, didn’t he? It’s the same thing. He’ll call you by your name when he feels ready.”

“I _know_ , but…”

“He already dropped the ‘-kun’ in your name,” Tajima points out, “so he _is_ getting there. It’s not as easy for him as it is for you.”

“I _know_ , it’s just—I’m _not_ trying to pressure him, but…”

He opens his hand and looks at Tajima between the space of his fingers.

“How long did it take him to call you Yuu, though?”

Tajima shoots him a look. “That’s different.”

Abe stares.

“It’s _totally_ _different_ , Takaya.” Tajima says, with a serious face, though his eyes soften. Then, he laughs. “You _should_ know that.”

He pats Abe’s back and then goes back to eating again.

“Just give him time.” He repeats.

Abe looks at him, taken aback, and then looks ahead, to where Mihashi is already coming back with more rice, a meat bun in his mouth, and another two on a plate.

“… Okay.” He agrees, finally.

Tajima hums contently at that.

Mihashi stops in front of them and gives Tajima the meat bun he asked for.

“Here.”

“Thank youuuu!”

Then, he looks at Abe sheepishly. “Ah. Um. I-I know you said you were fine, b-but—Ah. Um. They, ah, had this one with pork a-and… Um, well.” He looks down and then at Abe again, and continues. “You said… you liked them, so…”

Abe blinks at him, and then his face contorts. Tajima eyes him, and it looks like he’s incredibly moved that Mihashi actually remembers, but Mihashi must misinterpret his expression because of his nerves, because his eyes go big and he shakes his head, frantic. “Ah! I-I’m sorry! I c-can eat it inst—!”

Abe shakes his head.

“It’s fine.” He touches Mihashi’s hand with his fingers and then grabs the meat bun on Mihashi’s plate. “Thank you, Ren.”

Mihashi blinks rapidly, and then smiles, big and proudly and happy, like he does every single time Abe praises or thanks him. It’s funny how Abe seems like a Cupid’s arrow just went through his heart, even when it’s not his first time seeing him smile. It’s funny how Abe seems like he just wants to hold Mihashi’s hand and maybe cry later.

Tajima would laugh if only it wasn’t so ridiculously cute as well.

.

.

**6.**

Snow is something pretty weird in Saitama, especially in early December. Nonetheless—and somewhat miraculously—when Nishiura’s baseball club members go out of their house to their early morning practice at 5am, it’s been already snowing lightly for over an hour.

By the time some of them start coming, the snowing stopped, but everything is covered in a layer of snow already. Mihashi and Tajima look excitedly at the field, now white and fluffy.

“Oooh.” Sakaeguchi joins in the emotion, looking between Mihashi and Tajima’s shoulders at the field. “It’s probably even enough to do a snowman.”

“Sakaeguchi, you genius!” Tajima beams. “Ren, let’s go!”

He takes Mihashi’s gloved hand in his and leads the boy to the center of the field.

“You come, too!” He screams, looking over his shoulder at Sakaeguchi and smiling brightly.

They’ve only made the base of it when Hanai gets out of the locker room and calls them to gather around in a circle, Abe talking with Shinooka behind them.

“Momokan says we can’t practice this morning with all the snow and without her here; it’ll be dangerous if some of us get injured. But we should help to clear the snow so we can practice a bit in the afternoon or tomorrow morning.” Hanai announces. “She has some snow shovels in her house, she’s bringing them with his dad to help but she had some trouble with her car, so she’s getting here after lunch break. Shiga-sensei is helping, too.”

“We’re meeting here at lunch break again, like Hanai said.” Abe confirms, standing up next to him. “I don’t have to say it, but don’t stay too long out in the cold or you can get sick.”

He eyes Mihashi briefly before looking at all of them again. After that, they all agree and go to their classrooms to get warm.

.

That’s how they find themselves again in the field at lunch break. Abe is helping Momokan to pass around the shovels, but stops when notices Mihashi, Izumi and Tajima coming.

He jogs until he stops in front of Mihashi, checking him up and down with his eyes, probably looking for any sign of Mihashi being cold or uncomfortable.

“Ren,” He says, stepping into his personal space and making a cloud of white smoke in the air when he talks. He starts fixing up Mihashi’s scarf—even when it isn’t that out of place—tightening it around Mihashi’s neck with something akin to gentleness, even when he’s frowning. “Aren’t you cold? It’s fine if you want to get back to the classroom, we already have—”

“I’m okay!” Mihashi nods eagerly, eyes sparkling excitedly, probably for all the snow around. “I…! I can help!”

“Yeah, of course.” Abe nods, nose dusting a bit red; his frown softens. “I know you can, I just worry.”

“Mm,” Mihashi hums, and nods gently, hazel eyes warm. “I-I know; you care about m-me, Abe.”

Abe blinks and blushes, but he doesn’t look away. “Yeah…”

Mihashi shoots him a small smile, soft and warm and reassuring (and so criminally cute), and takes Abe’s hand into his.

“I-I’m fine, Abe.” He affirms.

Abe looks at their linked hands and nods, looking like he just got out of a very good dream.

“I’ll give you a shovel, then.” He says, and leads the way, without letting go of Mihashi’s hand.

Tajima starts singing _Can You Feel The Love Tonight_ pretty loudly when they start walking away, and Izumi snickers, even when he’s shaking his head like Tajima is ridiculous.

.

That afternoon, they get back for their late practice, but Momokan orders to wait for a bit while she makes a call.

Abe and Mihashi are talking about some pitches they want to try out this time, and Tajima is humming _Jingle Bells_ under his breath, skipping around, bored.

But then…

“No.” Izumi cuts him off immediately.

“What?”

“ _No_.” He repeats, shooting Tajima a Look. “Don’t.”

“But what?” Tajima asks, blinking falsely-innocent, his grin already forming up in his mouth. “I haven’t said anything.”

“You have _that_ kind of face.” Izumi tiredly comments.

“What kind of face?” He feigns confusion, playing dumb. It’s obviously not working, given how he can’t stop smiling.

“The kind of face you make when you’re going to give me a headache.” Izumi shoots back. “So whatever you’ve come up with this time to get Takaya and Ren together: don’t.”

“But it will work!”

“You say that every time.”

“And every time it works!” Tajima retorts. “A bit.”

“ _Mhmmm_.” Izumi hums, sarcastically.

“It will work!” He beams at him, enthusiastic, and Izumi just stares at him, looking worn-out.

“I can’t stop you, right?”

“Nope.”

“ _Yuu_.”

“It will work! I promise!”

Izumi arches an eyebrow. “Do I want to know?”

Tajima smirks.

“That’s a no.” Izumi sighs.

Tajima laughs and bends down to collect some of the snow that was left behind, gathered around his feet.

“Hey, Hanai!” Tajima calls, right arm in the air to wave at their captain, left arm hidden behind his back.

“Huh?” Hanai says before turning around, just in time to get hit square in the face with the snowball Tajima throws at him.

“Got you!” Tajima cackles and doubles over himself with laughter.

“ _Tajima_.” Hanai bellows, before going back on his feet and throwing a snowball at him. Tajima easily avoids it, still laughing, and Hanai continues until the third one hits Tajima on his chest.

Instead of getting angry, Tajima grins at Hanai, eyes sparkling joyfully.

“Oh, no.” Hanai mumbles, realizing what he has done.

“Yuu,” Izumi warns. “This is stu—”

He doesn’t get to finish, interrupted when Mizutani throws a snowball at him. It hits him on the shoulder, and Izumi fumes, left eye twitching while Mizutani laughs hysterically besides Hanai.

“That’s it, Rice!” Izumi stomps over at him, and Mizutani stops laughing to whine about the nickname. Izumi doesn’t even let him, though, throwing two snowballs at him.

“Ah, wait! Wait, wait!” Mizutani starts running around with Izumi behind him. “Wait!”

“You asked for it!” Izumi threatens.

“Snowball fight!” Tajima screams then, and throws at Hanai again, before their captain can say it’s a bad idea.

Sakaeguchi follows and joins in, throwing one at Suyama and then at Nishihiro, and then everything becomes chaos.

Some moments later, their little fight becomes more elaborate and they start playing some kind of tag game, where if you get hit 10 times, you’re “out” (Tajima’s idea); they run around the field and all the open space, throw snowballs here and there. Nishihiro is incredibly good at making forts, and Izumi finally “kills” both Mizutani and Sakaeguchi before Suyama “kills” him. Of course, Abe is a good strategist, so he manages to get safe most of the time. Mihashi teams up with Tajima and Izumi before he gets killed, and he has deadly accuracy, so he’s responsible for a lot of attacks going well.

Finally, the only ones left are Tajima, with five lives left, Mihashi with two, Hanai with three and Abe with three as well.

Tajima calls dibs on Mihashi to partner up with him, and so they start chasing while Hanai and Abe go hide somewhere.

They find Hanai first and ambush him behind the locker room.

“Kill him!” Izumi cheers on from behind.

“You’re so violent!” Hanai accuses him after getting killed. Izumi just smirks up at him.

“Okay,” Tajima beckons Mihashi with one hand and throws an arm around his shoulders to press their heads together and whisper, like they’re planning an attack. “We’ll go different ways and find Taka, okay?”

Mihashi nods.

“’kay!” Tajima grins and claps Mihashi on the back. “Good luck! We’ll win this!”

Mihashi nods enthusiastically again. “Yes!”

“Awesome!” Tajima gives him a thumbs up and then points behind him over his shoulder. “I’ll go that way.”

Mihashi agrees and they part ways, looking around for Abe.

Ren walks up to where he thinks Abe is hiding. He enters the bullpen area silently, the sole of his boots falling into the layer of snow that is there, with an ammunition of a couple of snowballs fit into his hands and arms.

Then, when he gets closer to the bush at the end of the area, Abe’s face barely peeks out from behind. He throws a small ball at him, so fast that Mihashi barely has time to react and avoid it; it hits him instead, right on his collarbone over the layers of clothes he’s wearing.

Ren gets back at him just after, smiling, and throws three snowballs. One of them hits Abe’s smirking face. Abe throws another at him, but Mihashi manages to evade it and runs directly at the bush, throwing another that hits Abe’s shoulder.

When Ren finally comes at the other side of the bush, they aimlessly throw at each other a couple more of snowballs. It’s kind of hard to hit when Abe is hiding there, but if Ren goes behind the bush as well, Abe can throw at him first thing and he’d be dead.

So they continue their little fight until one of Abe’s snowballs goes directly to Mihashi’s face. Ren tries to dodge it, but he only manages to slide on the snow, the small ball hitting him on the chest instead as he falls back on the bed of snow.

Abe instantly gets out of behind his refuge and runs to Mihashi when he sees the boy fall. He knees down and leans over Mihashi’s body, eyes full with worry checking him up for any damage.

“Are you okay?” He asks, frowning and voice filling with concern.

Ren blinks up at him, red nose, happy and confused eyes, snow surrounding him like a halo.

“Ren?” Abe calls again, leaning a bit more over him.

Mihashi lifts up his hand, and presses it at Abe’s chest, just at the place where his heart is, beating alive.

Ren’s lips quirk up a bit, softly. “I… won.” he mumbles.

Abe blinks and looks down at himself, confused. Then, he sees it, the snowball splattered all over Abe’s jacket, where Mihashi just pressed it against him.

Takaya looks up again at Ren’s face and blinks, taken aback when Mihashi starts laughing softly; it warms Abe’s chest, all the way up to his throat; he’s probably blushing, too.

Then, he sighs and falls back, laying stomach down besides Mihashi.

After some moments of listening to Mihashi’s gentle laugh, he snickers himself.

“That doesn’t count, though,” he points out, half-smiling, “I killed you first—so you were dead already.”

Ren laughs again. Abe rolls over and lies on his back instead; he spreads his arms and legs and breathes in, breathes out, listening to Mihashi’s soft laughs. He sounds so happy and relaxed, it’s such a weird thing. Abe can’t help but feel happy himself.

When Mihashi finally calms down, and they can only hear their breathing, making white clouds in the chilly air, Abe turns his face to look at Mihashi.

“I was worried.” He says, frowning despite himself, the worry still well-settled at the pit of his stomach. “Are you really okay?”

Mihashi turns his head to look at Abe face to face. His lips quirk up a bit, and it’s a small smile, but it’s there, and it’s so... _pretty_. Mihashi’s smiles always shock Abe to the core, even when they’re so small.

“Yes.” He says.

Abe nods, feeling better. _He’s okay then. That’s good._ _That’s really good._

His eyes drift and focus on Mihashi’s nose then; it’s red from the cold and… that’s… actually cute. Abe feels the sudden, strange need to reach out, take out his glove and touch it with his own fingers. His heart skips a beat just thinking about it, thinking what reaction would Ren have, if he would blush the moment Abe’s fingertips touch his face. He maybe will. But that’s… Why is he thinking…

He can feel himself blushing. Uh.

“Good.” He croaks out, and Mihashi tilts his head at him in confusion. Which, again, is pretty cute. _What the heck._ _Calm down, Takaya_.

“D-did you…?” Mihashi starts, and then his small smile grows an inch. “T-that—was fun.”

Abe looks back at him, blinking and still feeling all weird inside, and after some time, he can feel himself smiling, too. Maybe Mihashi’s smile is contagious.

“Yeah.” He agrees.

He looks up again, breathing in and out, and stretches an arm to the sky. He listens to Mihashi’s breathing and somehow calms down his weird heart, his mind drifting to the next match they have this month instead. He lets his arm fall to his stomach and thinks about the way he wants and could use the knuckleball… Ren has been doing that pitch pretty well lately after all.

He smirks, then, remembering how good Mihashi was moments ago at the field at their childish game. His deadly accuracy is always impressive, even at this kind of things.

“You’re pretty good at this.” Abe praises out loud, turning his head again to look at Mihashi’s face. The boy is looking at Abe—surprisingly—but when Takaya turns around and locks eyes with him, Ren turns his face to look up at the sky instead.

“T-Takaya…” He starts, voice small but still not hesitant as it used to be all the time when he was nervous around Abe, “Takaya is really good, too.”

Abe blinks. Not because of the compliment this time—he has never been good at receiving compliments after all, and every single time Mihashi says one to him, he feels so weirdly, viscerally moved that he fears he’s going to burst into tears… he feels like crying or screaming, for whatever weird reason.

But this is… Ren just…

“What…” He looks at Mihashi, eyes opening big. “What did you…?”

Mihashi looks at him, confused, and when he seems to realize what Abe is talking about, he instantly panics.

“Ah!” He sits up hastily, waving his hands in front of him aimlessly and looking alarmed, talking really fast. “S-s-s-s-sorry, um. Uh! I didn’t mean…! T-Abe?”

“No, no!” Abe screams, sitting up to look at him, and that just manages to make Mihashi look more distressed. Abe kicks himself mentally. “Ah, sorry.” He hurries to add, voice a normal volume now. “I didn’t want to yell at you. I mean—I’m just—” He breathes in, and then grabs Mihashi’s hands in his. “Takaya is fine.” He affirms, eyes looking directly at him, trying to calm Ren down. “Takaya is okay.”

Ren blinks and looks at him, eyes teary. “R-really?”

“ _Yes_.” Abe confirms, nodding earnestly. “I was just surprised, it’s all. I’ve been asking you for a long time, so…”

Ren looks at him, eyes big and long eyelashes.

Then, he looks down at his linked hands. He stares at them for a couple of long seconds, and then squeezes Abe’s fingers with his.

“Takaya.” He repeats, in a low, gentle voice, like he’s trying the way it sounds in his own mouth. Like he’s tasting Abe’s name in his own tongue. It makes Abe’s ears feel warm, it makes his _chest_ feel warm.

“Yes?” Abe asks, maybe a little too eagerly. It just—He’s _so_ …

“Takaya.” Mihashi looks up at him and says again, louder this time, not a single trace of hesitance in his voice anymore. “A-are you…” He looks down and up at Abe’s face. “D-does it make you happy when I… call y-you that?”

“To be honest, yes.” Really, really happy. It’s kind of surprising.

Mihashi stares back, probably a bit taken aback for Abe’s fast answer.

“Taka…” He starts, “Takaya is… a p-pretty name.” He finishes, and then smiles. The same kind, bright and beautiful smile he did back then when Abe said they should work together to get stronger, when he agreed to rely on Mihashi more.

He feels exactly the same like back then. He’s honestly not ready, not for Mihashi’s words or Mihashi’s radiant smile or the way it affects him. He probably has the same face he made back then.

“H-huh?” He stutters.

Mihashi opens his mouth, but before he can say anything more, a snowball hits Abe in the back of his head.

“Taka is dead!” A grinning Tajima screams from the entrance of the bullpen. Izumi is behind him.

_Huh?_

“Ren!” Tajima says, hands on his hips and big smile on his face, “fraternizing with the enemy!”

Mihashi blushes. “I…”

Izumi hits Tajima on the back of his head. “Don’t be dumb.” He looks over at where Mihashi and Abe are sitting. “Momokan said to get back, you’re gonna get sick if you keep sitting at the snow!”

Tajima jumps a couple of times. “She scolded me a bit for the snowball match, but said we can practice tomorrow.”

Izumi snickers. “She added some things to Yuu’s training as a punishment, too.”

Tajima makes a face. Izumi seems to enjoy it plenty.

He leans on Tajima’s side and smiles at Mihashi. “Oh, and Shinooka also brought hot chocolate for the team, Ren.”

Mihashi instantly gets up and runs back to the locker room. “Hot chocolate!”

Abe gets up behind him. “Don’t run!”

Izumi rolls his eyes, and they follow them back. Tajima beams walking at his side.

“Told you that would work.” He says, grinning proudly, arms crossed behind his head.

Izumi shoots him a look. “You just wanted to hit Hanai with a snowball.”

Tajima laughs. “But it worked!”

.

.

**7.**

“ _Listeeeeeen!_ ”

“Tajima!” Hanai frowns and looks up at the boy, “You’re not in your own house, get off Mihashi’s bed!”

“ _Aw_ ,” Tajima blinks, looking down with his hands on his hips, “but I have to explain the plan before Takaya and Ren get back from the kitchen!”

Hanai arches an eyebrow. “Plan?”

Tajima grins. “Yup!”

Mizutani stops throwing the small baseball he’s playing with in the air to look at him from where he’s sitting in the ground. “Is this another one of your plans to set Mihashi and Abe up?”

Izumi, who is half-asleep, lying on Mihashi’s bed behind Tajima, answers instead, “Yes.”

Hanai sighs heavily. “Don’t you think you’re meddling way too much?”

“That’s my duty as Ren’s best friend, of course!”

Izumi kicks him in the back.

“Hey!” Tajima whines.

“Who said you’re his best friend? _I’m_ his best friend, too.”

Tajima smiles. “That’s why you’re going to help me, too.”

“I think it’s nice that he wants to help.” Sakaeguchi comments.

“Yeah, but Hanai is right, don’t you think?” Suyama speaks up. “We probably shouldn’t push them.”

“We’re not pushing them!” Tajima exclaims. “We’re just helping them! Don’t you all want them to be happy together?”

Everyone share looks between them, like pondering about it.

Mizutani speaks up first. “I mean, maybe they do need some help.” He shoots Hanai a look. “Abe talks way too much about Mihashi in class.”

Hanai makes a face. “Ah, that’s right…”

“Maybe just a _gentle_ approach would be good.” Nishihiro offers.

“Tajima did help them sometimes before.” Oki comments.

“Thank you!”

Mizutani laughs. “Ah! And Abe’s reactions are always hilarious when something works.”

Everyone laughs.

“They’re definitely making progress.” Sakaeguchi adds. “They get along pretty well.”

“Mihashi is not that jumpy with Abe now.” Hanai recognizes.

“Abe _does_ seem a lot less grumpy around Mihashi now.” Mizutani adds. “He hasn’t screamed at him in a long time.”

“He was actually wearing that scarf Mihashi made him as a Christmas gift earlier, too…” Oki points out.

“Yeah, I noticed that too!” Tajima happily agrees, at the same time Hanai goes, “ _Really_? Wow.”

“So!” Tajima calls them out. “Should I explain the plan now?”

Everyone seems to agree.

“Good! Then Operation _Get RenTaka together Christmas Edition_ begins! _”_

“Didn’t you call them Abemiha last time?” Mizutani asks. He’s probably one of the few—along with Sakaeguchi—that has joined in Tajima’s plans before.

“Just explain your plan.” Izumi hurries. “They’re probably coming back any time.”

“Right!” Tajima jumps a bit in the bed. “Step one: get them to stand next to each other.”

“I think I’m realizing where this goes…”

“Step two: put up mistletoes everywhere in Ren’s house.”

“Did you seriously brought mistletoes to Ren’s house?” Izumi asks, eyebrows raised. “Of course you did, why am I asking?”

“I’m always prepared!” Tajima says, pointing to the backpack he brought with him, currently laying in the ground behind Mizutani.

“You do realize that sounds kind of dumb, right?” Hanai asks.

“No, that’s actually better than the one he had for Halloween.” Izumi affirms.

“Hey! Convincing Takaya to wear a nurse costume would have definitely worked.”

Izumi rolls his eyes.

“How are you planning to put them around though?” he asks. “Won’t them notice if you keep going around the house hanging things?”

“Subtly!”

“ _Nothing_ about you is subtle, Yuu.” Izumi deadpans.

“I…” Oki rises a hand in the air. “I can help.”

“Me too!” Sakaeguchi smiles, rising a hand in the air as well.

“Awesome!” Tajima gives them a thumbs up.

Hanai pinches the bridge of his nose. “I’m going to regret this.” he mumbles.

“What are you talking about?” Abe says out of nowhere, standing in the doorway of Mihashi’s room. Everyone screams and answers different things in panic.

Abe blinks.

“We were just talking about different things!” Tajima beams at him, casually jumping off Mihashi’s bed and walking up to him. “Did you brought the ginger cookies?”

“Ah, yes,” Abe answers, not looking wary anymore. He raises the tray he’s holding up so the others can see it. “Ren is coming with more in a bit.”

“Awesome!” Tajima skips all the way to him, Izumi following behind, interested now that food came. “Ren’s mom ginger cookies are the absolute best!”

“They’re still hot so be careful.” Abe scolds, frowning.

“And leave some for others.” Izumi adds, flicking Tajima’s forehead when Tajima grabs five in one hand.

“Ouch!” Tajima pouts. “There is a lot more, Kou!”

Both Abe and Izumi shoot Tajima a look.

“Yeah, yeah, okay,” Tajima concedes, and grins, eyes sparkling mischievously, “ _mom one and mom two_.”

“Who are you calling mom?!”

Tajima laughs just as Mihashi goes into the room.

.

“Ren,” Mihashi’s mom peeks at the doorway of her son’s room. “I’m going to pick some things at the store. Can you check some stuff in the kitchen for me while I’m not here?”

Mihashi nods.

“Thank you!” She smiles. “I’ll be back in an hour!”

“H-have a safe trip!” Ren gets up and looks at his friends, all gathered around the room. “I-I’m going to the kitchen, then.”

“Sure,” Tajima shoots. “Want some help?”

Mihashi plays with his fingers a bit. “Um.” He looks down and then up again. “C-can you go with m-me, T-takaya?”

Abe blinks up at him. “Me?”

“Ah. Um. If y-you don’t w-want to, that’s… fine…”

“Huh?” Abe frowns. “No, it’s fine.” He gets up. “I’ll go.”

Mihashi instantly lights up.

“Are you sure you don’t need more help?” Hanai asks, and both of them turn around to look at him. “I can—”

“Ah, Hanai,” Tajima intervenes, “I needed to ask you some things about the upcoming line-up for the next match.”

Hanai frowns, confused. “Hah…?”

“Ah…” Mihashi starts. “It’s o-okay! Taka and I will b-be fine.”

“Oh.” Hanai says. “Good, then.”

“We’ll ask for help if we need something.” Abe says, and follows Mihashi to the kitchen.

“Uh,” Hanai utters, just after, looking at Tajima. “What was that you wanted to ask me?”

“Oh, no,” Tajima says, lying back on Mihashi’s bed, “that was just so you’ll leave them alone.”

“Huh?”

Tajima snickers. “You need to read the mood, dude.”

“Ren was obviously asking him because he wanted to be alone with him,” Izumi explains. “Takaya is awful at cooking.”

Hanai blinks.

“Oh.”

Izumi snickers. “Yeah.”

“They probably don’t need our help, then…” Oki says.

“We’ll see!”

.

“You’re really good at this.” Abe says, looking at Mihashi while he cuts some vegetables.

Ren blinks up at him.

“At cooking, I mean.” He clarifies. “It reminds me to when we had to make breakfast for everyone back at the training camp.”

“Ah, um.” Mihashi looks at him. “T-that time—and… and this time, too… T-Takaya h-helped me!”

Abe stares, surprised. “Me?”

Mihashi nods.

“Well, I wasn’t that helpful back then.” Abe says, resting his chin in his hand, remembering those moments. “I even ruined the gyoza.”

He isn’t even saying it as self-hating, he’s just telling the truth. He realized back then he didn’t know how to cook at all. Cooking is _hard_. Baseball is _so_ much easier. And Mihashi can do _both_.

“B-but… you helped…”

Abe looks at him. “Yeah, I guess.”

Mihashi looks down and continues cutting up the tomatoes. He’s pretty skilled, Abe notices.

“You know,” he speaks up again, “back then, I realized you knew a lot of stuff. And that you’re pretty good in a lot of things.”

Mihashi freezes, and then looks up at Abe with a dizzy look, in awe and surprised.

“H-huh?” He utters, sounding kind of breathless.

“Yes.” Abe continues. “You’re pretty good at a lot of stuff, I was really impressed. Though, to be honest, you impressed me since the first day with your pitches.”

Mihashi’s eyes go big.

“But again, I guess I never… thought about you outside baseball?” Abe shakes his head. “No, that’s not quite it. I mean, I did think about you outside of baseball, but it was…” Abe sighs. “I just realized you’re pretty amazing at a lot of stuff outside of your pitching.”

Abe smiles and looks at Mihashi.

“I’m actually really glad Momokan made us do that.” He confesses. “I feel like we got closer. Or like I could understand you better.”

“I…!” Mihashi speaks up, probably louder than he intends, and looks at Abe with bright eyes. “I’m also… glad! A-about… Taka and… I also t-think w-we… Uh, that we g-got… closer! And… _Ow_.”

He makes a face and pauses, looking down at where he cut himself accidentally while talking.

Abe is there in the blink of an eye, standing next to Mihashi with a worried face.

“Are you okay?” He asks, taking Mihashi’s hand into his to check on his fingers.

“Ah. I-It was j-just…” Mihashi blushes when Abe looks up at him, maybe because of embarrassment. “It’s—not that big…”

“Mmm,” Abe lifts up Mihashi’s hand to look at it closer. “You’re right, it’s not deep. Does it hurt? How much?”

“U-um… not… that much…”

“That’s good.” Abe says, looking a bit more relieved. “Do you have a first aid kit?”

Mihashi blinks, and then laughs softly. “I-it’s fine, Taka.” He smiles. “I—I can take care of it.”

“Oh.” Abe blinks. “Yeah, right.”

Mihashi nods.

“I’ll—I’ll be right back.”

“Sure.” Abe says, looking at Mihashi while he walks towards the doorway of the kitchen. “You want help?”

He shakes his head. “I-I’m okay.” He points at the oven. “Can you…? Um, the cookies…?”

Abe blinks. “Ah, yes. Sure. I’ll watch over.”

Mihashi smiles again. “T-thank you!”

Abe breathes in. Ah, would Mihashi smiling ever stop affecting him?

“Yeah.” He shakily words out, as Mihashi steps out the door.

Huh.

.

(Abe manages to not burn down the kitchen in the ten minutes Mihashi is not around.)

.

At the end, they do carry on Tajima’s plan, just to see if it will work out.

It’s epically funny, the way everyone seems to very obviously try to get Mihashi and Abe under one of the fifteen mistletoes they hanged around Ren’s home. Izumi kind of shoves Abe to Mihashi without getting anything more than Abe tripping over the Christmas tree on Mihashi’s living room, Sakaeguchi starts a conversation with them and moves around a bit, not even subtly, but they just look at him, obliviously without moving. Mizutani even feigns passing out (it doesn’t help, but Tajima appreciates the extreme effort.)

Nishihiro (thank heavens for Nishihiro) is the one that finally manages to get them both under one, and Tajima instantly yells out “Mistletoe!”

They just get pretty embarrassed, though, and after Mihashi almost passes out, making mortified noises and waving his hands everywhere, they all finally give up on it.

Maybe next time.

.

.

**8.**

They’re all gathered up eating at Nishiura’s baseball field, just after changing up.

“Ren,” Abe calls over, getting to where Mihashi is sitting.

The boy looks up at him, cheeks full of the hot meatbun Shinooka just passed him around. The moms made them earlier so they would have something to eat after their practice match with Arc.

He sits down next to him, sides pressed together. Mihashi’s body is warm, even through his clothes, Abe can feel it.

“Try this one.” He says, moving his hand so the meatbun he’s holding is under Mihashi’s nose. “You’ll like it.”

Mihashi blinks at him, confused, but nods anyways. He takes Abe’s wrist between his fingers and leads it closer to his face, so he’ll feed Mihashi’s himself. (It isn’t the first time that it has happened; they’re getting pretty comfortable around each other lately, and everyone on the team has noticed it).

Ren’s eyes light up, and Abe smiles, seemingly proud at himself.

“You can have it if you want,” he says, “I already ate one.”

“T-thank you, Taka.”

Abe nods. He keeps surprising himself at how easy it is to talk to Mihashi now; there are still times they don’t get each other, of course, but it’s definitely a lot easier to have conversations now.

“You did a pretty good job today.” Abe praises him, after a bit of silence. “You are in good shape, lately. I think you’re getting better with your new form.”

Mihashi instantly lights up, like every time Abe praises him. It’s still incredibly cute.

“R-really?” He asks, happily. “Y-you think so, Taka?”

“Yeah.” Abe nods, ruffling Mihashi’s hair, which makes Ren blush lightly. “We have to ask Momokan and her dad, too, to check on your form, but I definitely think you’re getting a lot better.”

“I-I think I’m getting used to it.”

“That’s good.”

Mihashi finishes the meatbun Abe brought for him and resumes eating the first one; he bites on it and then does the same as Abe did before, stretching his arm so the small ball of meat is in front of Abe’s face.

“Y-you want some?” He offers.

Abe shoots him a brief look before leaning down to bite on it as well.

Tajima, standing up in front of them (and waiting for his chance to talk), immediately whistles.

“Indirect kiss!”

Both of them blush, Mihashi just a tad darker than Abe.

“Y-yuu-kun!” He squeaks, while Tajima just laughs lightheartedly.

 _Ah, they’re getting there, they’re getting there_. He thinks, grinning at them.

After all, Tajima is the best wingman.

**Author's Note:**

> if you got until the end, then thank you so much for reading!!!! it means a lot!
> 
> comments are very much appreciated!!!! let me know what you thought of this!!!
> 
> and happy new year to all of you!!!! i hope 2021 is kinder to all of us. my best wishes, honeybuns!!!!


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